Student conference 2020

Final results

We inform all the participants that the evaluation of the contribution proposals has recently completed.

The direction committee desire to thank all the scholars who have replied to our call for papers by sending their own abstract and CV.

We are pleased for the proposals submitted not only for their high number, but also for the remarkable quality of them. This motivates us to further develop and organize the student conference.

We have already communicated the final results to all the participants. However, we suggest the students to check the e-mail and confirm their attendance at the conference.

We also remind you that candidates must submit their final paper by the deadline of January 15th, 2020.

As pointed out in the call for papers, the organization provides accommodation solutions, to be covered by the participants, at affiliated colleges or facilities; for this reason, we kindly ask you to inform us by Friday 21th October if you intend to use them.

WHAT WE TALK WHEN WE TALK ABOUT HISTORY

DEADLINE: September 30, 2019

What we talk about when we talk about history is a Student Conference for graduate students and PhD students who have worked and work on thesis and research projects in the field of Modern and Contemporary History.

The Student Conference aims to encourage dialogue between students and doctoral students from different backgrounds

on the methodology of historical research: from historiographic trends to the screening of sources, from the construction of a discourse of identity and memory to the intersection with philosophy and political doctrines, up to the “new” challenges and perspectives.

In recent years, the methodology of historical research has faced profound changes; the increasingly marked phenomena of globalization and digitization have placed the historian in front of the need to deal with non-traditional sources and with a new language. In this context, the questions “what is history for?” and “what does the ‘historical profession’ involve” have come up again today with great urgency.

The Call for Papers is aimed at students (in possess of a Bachelor degree) and PhD students (up to and including the Italian XXXII cycle – or who have not yet obtained their qualification) who wish to present their current research, focusing on the methodological aspects, the problems faced and the choices made in the course of their studies.

The following are the 5 thematic panels on the agenda, which each candidate can participate in as a presenter.

For a more detailed presentation of the panels we suggest downloading the full conference program.

The materials must be sent to the following e-mail address:studentconference2020@unipv.it

THEMATIC PANELS DESCRIPTION

STUDENT CONFERENCE 2020

The past, nowadays, is a symbolic resource of great value for societies and political groups, especially in the process of building and consolidating their identity. The functions carried out by memory are manifold: from a form of legitimation of institutions, passing through the aggregating function that the past deploys in large and heterogeneous social groups, such as Nation states, to the reference to alternative models of life in respect to contemporary ones. In this sense, memory and identity are related in a process of political elaboration in perpetual evolution. The task of historians is becoming increasingly difficult because the past transcends the object of study and is perceived as the exclusive heritage of social groups.

The panel intends to investigate the various forms of the relationship between identity and memory in contemporary historiographical debate. The candidate is asked to discuss the aspects of this link, also through case studies, and its repercussions on historiographic research.

Philosophy offers valuable tools for reading and interpreting history, allowing us to recognize and use with order and rigour the conceptual characteristics of the historiographical method. In this panel we invite scholars to propose original researches concerning the development of the philosophical conceptualization of history and historiography in the long run of contemporary age.

Proposals wishing to mix the history of ideologies and of political thought with the methodological discourse will be warmly welcomed. The need for this reflection stems from the conviction that political thought is a concrete thought, actively involved in the world, both as a critique of existence, that is, as a de-construction, and as a construction, i.e. as a project to build a ‘better’ social order able to satisfy new criteria of legitimacy.

Illustrating the evolution of intellectual traditions that innervate philosophical and political thought can also lead us to reflect on the social function of historiography and the meaning of history in today’s cultural context.

The methodology of historical research imposes a strict critical analysis of the sources: the process of choosing, interpreting and using them is, in fact, one of the key points in the work of the historian. The historiographic debate has long dwelt on the limits of the process of sources’ identification: what can be considered as such, what are the interpretative tools, what are the risks and problems involved. Over the years, the concept of “source” has been revised, expanded, and modified in order to adapt it to a plurality of factors and so that it might include new methodological tools: from oral histories to artistic representations. Looking at the era of social networks, moreover, it occurs to ask to what degree it might be possible to employ pictures, posts, personal opinions in the course of the historiographic research.

The panel aims to investigate at a methodological level the concept of source and the tools, limits, and difficulties of interpretation through the discussion of specific case studies.

In this panel we would like to deepen theoretical and methodological questions related to historiographic trajectories focused on the relationship between global and local phenomena, starting from a substantial redefinition of the link between European history and global history. For several decades now, historiographical work has undergone a massive redefinition. In particular, the so-called spatial turn has redefined the boundaries of historical research, both in relation to the objective referent of its query and in an epistemological key.

The contributions will be consequently selected on the basis of their ability to provide an original interpretation of the historiographic trajectory taken into consideration by the participants (i.e. a reflection on the very nature of the historiographic discipline in relation to the models of World History, Post-colonial studies, etc.) and for the critical employment of the tools that emerged within these schools for the production of an unpublished research.

This panel is the result of a desire to compare research experiences centred on a re-elaboration of methodologies related to the field of sociology, cultural studies, and critical theory, with the aim of highlighting their heuristic value for the purposes of historical research.

A privileged access point to the history of social formations will be identified in the mass media, in the forms of self-narrative and representation of social alterity, and in the various ways of (re)production of the legitimacy of power. Therefore, the contributions presented in this context will focus on the modalities of (re)production and resistance to the social models represented as dominant in the historical contexts of reference.

Practical information

The Call for Papers is aimed at students (in possession of the Bachelor’s degree) and PhD students (until the XXXII cycle included).

Candidates must submit by the deadline of 30 September 2019:

Contribution proposal: maximum length 500 words. The proposal should contain, in the header, the reference to the panel (number and title) for which it is presented;
Curriculum Vitae et Studiorum.

Materials must be received at: studentconference2020@unipv.it

Contributions will be evaluated anonymously; i/i selected will be contacted by e-mail and must then send by 15 January 2020 the paper on which they will base their intervention (minimum 20,000 – maximum 40,000 bars).

The Student Conference will be held in the Foscolo Hall of the University of Pavia from 2 p.m. on February 17, at 1 p.m. on February 19, 2020.

Travel and accommodation costs will be borne by the participants; The organising committee will make accommodation solutions available to eligible participants at boarding schools or facilities.

A welcome aperitif and lunch on 18 February will be offered by the organization; the remaining meals will be paid for by the participants.

ABOUT US

HOW THE PROJECT WAS BORN

The idea of organizing a student conference was born in the spring of 2019 in the corridors of the University of Pavia.

A heterogeneous group of PhD students began to wonder: what does it mean to us to deal with historiographical issues? What do our researches have in common? What do we talk about when we talk about history?

It was from these questions that emerged the need to develop a horizontal space in which to compare various historiographical approaches and develop new interpretations of historical matters.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

CONTACTS

This project is aimed at foster dialogue between graduate and PhD students from different backgrounds and to reflect on the methodology of historical research.

Participation is open to all young national and international researchers.

Adress: Department of Political and Social Sciences, Strada Nuova, 65, 27100, PAVIA Italy

Email: studentconference2020@unipv.it

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